Maybe this time around
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: After Ginny has been convicted for murdering her son Albus, no one in the family believes that she's guilty. Hermione goes back in time to save Ginny, but will she manage to keep Ginny out of Azkaban this time around?
1. The trial

Standing in the elevator in the Ministry of Magic, I, Hermione Granger-Weasley tapped my foot impatiently. It always took me long to go from my office (which was on the top floor) to the court-rooms (of course, those were on the ground floor), but today, it seemed to take twice as long. Today would be my most important case ever, and I wasn't even going there because it was my job. I had, after all, not been allowed to take up this case, no matter how much my in-laws had pleaded. I was too emotionally involved. I would have to sit with the family, not with the judges today.

Entering the corridor with the rooms where the really important cases were held, I saw the red-haired family already present. One thing was off though; their usual cheerfulness was replaced with much darker emotions. Understandable, of course. I couldn't quite understand it myself. I noticed my husband, Ron Weasley, sitting with our best friend, Harry Potter, who looked worse than dead. Understandable; after all, it wasn't everyday that your wife was trialled for murdering your youngest son.

As I made her way over to them, I caught Molly Weasley's eye, my mother-in-law; mother of the accused. Molly nodded sadly, only acknowledging me, and then turned back to Arthur, her husband. Only the adults were here, and not even all of them; I saw Bill Weasley talking solemnly to Teddy Lupin, Harry's godson. Neither Fleur nor Victoire were there; the former probably thought court-room air wouldn't do her pregnant daughter much good. As for the kids; James Potter probably thought it wasn't fair that he couldn't come, but he didn't appear to have pressed the matter either. Even he could see the seriousness of this situation, I assumed.

I hadn't even reached Ron and Harry when we were called into the court-room. I sped towards Harry to support him, along with Ron. Merlin knew he needed it.

The first thing I saw when they entered was the empty chair in the middle. She hadn't been brought in yet. I should've known; that never happened. The judges, though, were there. I gazed up to my colleagues, silently pleading that they would believe Ginny if she said she didn't do it. I could understand now why the families here always looked so scared; this was real. Very real. They were about to lose a loved one to the wizarding prison, Azkaban, and the judges, who sat higher than the family, didn't show any emotion as they went through the facts one last time.

Oh, I had seen Ginny's file. It didn't look pretty. There was almost no evidence, but everything pointed into one direction only: Ginny Weasley-Potter, ex-Holyhead Harpy, well-known reporter, wife to the Chosen One, assumed loving mother of three, had killed her middle child, Albus Severus Potter.

Thanks to my own efforts, there weren't any reporters allowed in the court-room. But surely, they would be standing outside when the trial ended, ready to speculate about what had happened.

Everyone eventually quieted down; the trial was about to start. A door, opposite to where they were sitting, opened, and three armed wizards entered, dragging a crying Ginny along. The Dementors, after all, had been vanquished a few years after the war had ended. The Ministry used other methods now to prevent Azkaban prisoners from escaping.

"Harry!" Ginny suddenly cried out. It felt like my heart was being stabbed to see my friend like this. Now I understood how those people must feel who sat here. And I watched them, every single day, without emotion. I wasn't so sure if I could do that after today. "Harry! I didn't do it, you have to believe me! I didn't kill Al, my baby boy, I could never hurt him!" Ginny's screams filled the court-room. I could feel Harry tensing next to her. I knew he didn't believe that his wife had killed their son either. But what could he do? The evidence was there, Al's funeral was already planned, and they were never going to see him, or Ginny, for that matter, again.

"Mum, dad, please! Don't let them lock me up, I didn't do it, I swear!" I heard sobs coming from my right, and I wasn't so sure if I could be strong enough not to cry. My heart sank further when Ginny called my name next. "Hermione! You believe me, don't you? I would never hurt Al, you know that! Please, Hermione, you can get me out, help me, please!"

After that, Ginny was forced (by magic, of course) to stay silent while the court recalled all the facts and evidence there was. Finally, they asked, "Do you have anything to say to defend yourself, Mrs Potter?"

"I didn't kill my son," Ginny replied with a strained voice. "I could never hurt one hair on his head, let alone kill him. You have to believe me – my family, they can testify – "

"I think we've heard enough," Doug Harness, my boss, interrupted her. "Mrs Potter, all the evidence points in your direction. Therefore, we hereby sentence you to a lifelong stay in Azkaban. You may take her away," he told the three wizards, who took Ginny out of the chair she had been forced to sit on, and they dragged her away again. The spell that allowed her only to speak when she was asked a question prevented her from shouting out to her family once more. She still sent us pleading looks, but there was no way that we could do something.

As we walked out of the court-room, what seemed like hundreds of reporters jumped them with questions – mostly, though, the most burning question of all: has she or hasn't she done what she's been sentenced for? The entire Weasley family gave only one answer to that: no, she hasn't. And no, they didn't know how else it should have happened, and yes, she had, indeed, been sent back to Azkaban, for life.

When we finally managed to get rid of all the nosy people, Molly told us quietly to all come to the Burrow. All the kids were there and they needed to be picked up anyway. I was amazed that Molly could still think so rationally. I wasn't sure if I would be able to do that if Rose would be accused of something she didn't do and would be taken away from me forever. Rose… how would she react to the news of Ginny being convicted for real for this murder? Al had been her favourite cousin and best and closest friend.

I glanced sideways at Harry. How would he explain this to James and Lily? They would be devastated. More than devastated, I corrected myself. Sure, they were no little kids anymore, but it would still be tough to explain, even to a 15 and a 12 year old, that their mother had been officially condemned for killing their brother.

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**A/N**: So, what do you think? Liked it, hated it, anything else? Please review and let me know!

(**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything...)


	2. The situation

"_Aunt Hermione, aunt Hermione!" In a hurry, __I ran down the stairs as I heard my name being called._

"_What's wrong?" I called, entering the kitchen, not seeing anybody._

"_In the living room!" the voice called. "Aunt Hermione, you have to come right now, dad needs you!"_

_Glancing down curiously at my nephew, whose face had appeared in the fire, I asked, "What's the rush, James? Can you hold on one second, I need to – "_

"_It's urgent, aunt Hermione! Dad said to call you over immediately. He'll – never mind." I had never seen James so stressed out before, so I scribbled a quick note for Ron and the kids (who were all out at the time, doing some summer shopping before the new school year would start)._

"_I'll be right there, James," I promised him, and I immediately disapparated into the Potters' backyard. I was greeted, once more, by James, who stood in the doorway already. _

"_Here, in the living room," he said, grabbing my arm and dragging me along. "Dad, she's here."_

_I__ entered the room, only to find one of my best friends, Harry Potter, sitting on the couch, looking very distressed. Lily, his daughter, was sitting next to him, hugging him from the side. "Harry, what's wrong?" I asked, concerned. _

"_Ginny – Al," was all he could say. "They're – gone."_

"_Gone?" I repeated, not sure if I heard right. "What do you mean, gone?"_

_Harry looked at me, and it struck me that he must have been crying for some time. "Gone," he whispered, almost inaudibly. By this time, James had joined his father and sister on the couch, awkwardly patting his dad's knee._

"_We don't really know either," he confessed, "Lily and me. He won't tell us." As if to confirm what her brother said, Lily nodded earnestly. _

_I__ turned to Harry again, only to find him holding out a note – a letter. I took it and started reading its contents, dreading it before I even started. _

'_To Mr Harry James Potter – _

_We regret to inform you that today, the 21__th__ of August, at 1:07 PM, your son, Albus Severus Potter, was found, murdered, in a dark alley near Diagon Alley. Along with your son, we also found your wife, Ginevra Molly Weasley-Potter, covered in blood, seeming rather confused, with her wand out. She has been taken into custody and will be trialled for the murder next Thursday. Please contact us for more information about your son. We're sorry for your loss._

_Sincerely, Tristan O. Harris, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement'_

_I__ gasped after I had read the letter thoroughly. Ginny, murdering Al? That was insane, it couldn't be right! This had to be some kind of a sick joke. One look at Harry's face, however, told me that it wasn't a joke. This was reality. I glanced at Lily and James, who had no idea what was going on. One afternoon had cost them their mother and their brother. _

"_Harry," __I said hoarsely. "This – what is this? You don't think – it's true, right?"_

_Harry looked down, at his hands. "I've already contacted them, as soon as I got the letter. They won't let me see her, but I've seen him. He looks terrible, Hermione, I can't believe someone would do that. She didn't. She absolutely didn't."_

"_Who didn't do what, daddy?" Lily asked innocently. Harry looked pained, as if he had no idea how to explain the situation to her. If I were him, I wouldn't know how to do this, either._

"_I guess I'll leave, now," __I said softly. I wasn't leaving because I was running away from this; I knew, even if Harry didn't know it himself, that he should be the one to tell the kids, not me. Even though he was my best friend and the kids were my nephew and niece, I felt like I was intruding. So I'd better leave._

_Nobody was home when I got there. I wondered if Ron and the children would know already; after all, if it had happened close to Diagon Alley, many people must have heard. Only a couple of minutes later, there was some stumbling in the living room, and there they were, stepping out of the fire. Rose almost jumped me when she saw me. _

"_Mum, guess what? Dad got me this awesome Quidditch kit, so I'll be unbeatable next term! I'm going to make the team, I tell you! Oh, and guess who we saw? Aunt Ginny and Al, they were shopping for school too. James and Lily didn't want to go, so it was just the two of them. But it was nice, we had ice cream, all of us, and aunt Ginny talked dad into paying for it all, even though Al and Hugo had some big ass ice creams – mum, are you alright?" Somewhere during her talk, I had started crying. They didn't know. They had no idea. And they had even met them, shortly before the incident._

"_I'm fine," __I said feebly. After all, if I told them now, they would all want to go see the Potters. I had to give Harry some time to explain this to James and Lily._

_Hugo snorted. "Mum, that's almost as believable as uncle Percy willingly joining us for a game of Quidditch." Ah, Hugo, always the subtle one. I saw Ron looking at me worriedly as well, which was enough for me to start crying again. It was still so surreal._

"_Alright, kids, why don't you put your stuff upstairs? I need to talk to your mum now," he told them, and they scurried away, although Rose had to violently tow Hugo away by his elbow. For once, I didn't tell her off for that. Once they were gone, Ron spoke again. "Hermione, what's wrong? And don't give me that crap that nothing's going on, because something is clearly bothering you. A lot."_

_Before I could answer him, we heard a sudden crack. "Hey Hermione, Ron," Harry said, trying to keep his voice even. "Can you grab the kids and come to the Burrow? We're holding a family meeting." My eyes met his and I immediately knew that this wasn't going to be a pleasant meeting._

_About ten minutes later, the Burrow was stuffed with people. Everyone was there, except, of course, Ginny and Al. Even Charlie had made it, apparently without even asking for a reason. The chairs and couches in the living room were positioned in such a way that everyone was looking at the same side of the room. I noticed that James and Lily were sitting on the ground, backs against the wall, watching their father intently from the side. Lily was crying and James seemed to be trying to comfort her, even though he looked ready to burst to tears himself any moment._

"_Er – right," Harry said from the front of the room. Everyone shut up and watched him expectantly. He clearly had no idea how to do this, but since I hadn't either, I had no idea how I could help him. _

"_Shouldn't we wait for Ginny and Al?" George ask from the back of the room. Harry visibly tensed._

"_If we were to do that, we might as well leave now," he answered. "They are actually the reason I called you all to come here."_

"_They didn't leave, did they?" Ron started next to me. "Because we saw them this morning and – " He stopped there, because I had put a Silencing Spell on him. Harry sent me a grateful look before continuing._

"_They didn't… leave, as you put it. But in a way, you could say they're… gone."_

"_Gone, what do you mean, gone?" Fred now asked. Seriously, like father like son. I knew I had asked the exact same question not even an hour earlier, but now that I knew what had happened, the question struck me as incredibly stupid._

"_You don't mean…" Molly (my mother-in-law, not my niece) started. She brought her hand to her mouth and started shaking her head. "That can't be true. Harry, please, tell me it's not true?"_

_Harry glanced to his side, to the kids sitting on the floor. Then he turned back to us. "I – got a letter, this afternoon. It said – well, here." With that, he handed Molly the piece of parchment. _

_Everyone watched Molly intently as she read the letter, her expression becoming more and more disbelieving and desperate every second. "No," she whispered. "She can't have done that – she would never – " She looked around wildly, to Harry, to Lily and James, to the rest of us. _

"_Could someone tell us what's going on?" Hugo asked from somewhere in the middle of the room. I shot another Silencing Spell towards him, but I accidentally hit Roxanne instead._

"_It's not true," Molly said again, looking as if she was ready to faint any moment. "Harry – "_

"_I don't believe it either," Harry said, swallowing hard. "But they do. And that seems to be all that matters. I don't know what happened. I have no idea." He looked around helplessly, and by now, James was in tears as well._

_Molly handed Harry the letter again, and he started to read it aloud, voice shaking with every word. Everyone was quiet for a second after he had finished, and then the shouting began._

"_I don't believe a word of it!"_

"_This isn't true, is it?"_

"_Murdered, what do you mean, murdered?"_

"_She wouldn't do something like that, ever!"_

"_We met them right before that!"_

"_There's no way that she killed him!"_

_Harry, in the meantime, had moved over to his two remaining kids, holding them both as close as possible as they all cried their eyes out. _

"_Harry?" Arthur asked cautiously. "Is it true?"_

"_Depends on what you mean," Harry replied, trying to steady his voice. "Al – yes, he was killed. I saw him." He swallowed again. "Ginny – I don't know. I wasn't allowed to see her. But I can't believe that she did – that. Not to Al. Not to anyone at all."_

_Arthur nodded solemnly, and nobody else seemed to dare to say anything else. We just sat there, not quite understanding what had happened. I looked at Ron, and, realising he was still forced to be silent, I quickly lifted the spell. _

"_I can't believe this," he whispered to me. "Ginny – Al – how can they believe that?"_

"_I don't know," I said softly. "But it's not right. It's not true. It can't be."_

_Ron nodded slowly. "Did you know?" he asked after a long pause. I just nodded. "So that's why you reacted like you did when Rose was telling about – " His voice trailed off, and I looked up. Rose was standing in front of me, tears in her eyes. I stood up quickly and pulled her in my arms. There was nothing else we could do that day but cry and talk and wonder and comfort each other._


	3. The aftermath

I was one of the last to arrive in the Burrow. By that time, the kids had been gathered already. Although I wondered if that had been such a hard task; after all, they all knew what was going on. They wouldn't have been too difficult. I was nearly knocked off my feet as James and Lily rushed towards Harry; Lily had, by the looks of it, been crying again, but it seemed that James hadn't been able to find any more tears to cry. Harry gently pushed them outside. A few seconds later, I heard a strangled "No!" from James and a loud cry from Lily. Somewhere deep down, I was glad that Harry flat out told them, instead of postponing the bad news as long as possible.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Ron. I turned towards him and he tried to smile, tried to silently tell me that everything would be okay. He didn't even believe that himself, I could see it, so how did he expect to convince me?

The backdoor opened again. "I'll be right back," Harry said hurriedly, "I have to bring James and Lily home now." I wanted to tell him that he'd better stay with them; after all, they might suddenly need him for something. But they had left already.

"Where's Harry?" Bill asked, entering the kitchen. "We thought we'd wait for him before we told the kids…"

"He's taking Lily and James home," Ron answered his eldest brother. "He said he'd be back soon."

Bill nodded gravely. "I can't believe this, our little sister… It's so weird." He shook his head, as if to indicate how surreal it felt.

"Tell me about it," George commented, walking into the kitchen as well. "Those Ministry bastards, taking her away from us, not even giving us the chance to say something…" He trailed off, and I was about to tell him that that was the standard procedure, when Harry came in again. He smiled sadly and his eyes flickered towards the living room. We all understood the message and walked in. Only this time, Ron and I stayed in the front of the room, with Harry, facing the family.

"Well," he started hesitantly, "I'm sure you'll all have an idea of what happened already." He briefly looked up to meet the kids' eyes, but not even Hugo or Fred dared to make a comment. "She was convicted." Although there had not been much hope that Ginny would be released, there were still gasps filling the room. Harry turned to us and said in a low voice, "If you guys don't mind; Lily didn't want to be home alone and I doubt James feels any different."

Ron nodded as I said, "Go home, Harry, we'll manage here." There wasn't much to manage anyway. Everybody was distraught and after a while, we all started going to our respective homes, though not before Molly had assured us that she and Arthur would be fine.

When we got home, Hugo ran up to his room and Rose let herself fall down on the couch. Ron and I held a silent battle as to who had to check on whom, and in the end, I found myself following Hugo up the stairs, hoping that Ron wouldn't make Rose feel even worse. Alright, I sound like a terrible wife, but Ron doesn't have very much tact. Which isn't a good thing in situations like this one.

I knocked on Hugo's door and opened it quietly. He was sitting on his bed, staring out the window. He didn't even look up as I entered. "Hey, mum," he just said. I sat down next to him and carefully put my hand on his shoulder. He didn't shrug it off for once, but moved closer to me until he was holding on to me as if his life depended on it. "Mum?" he suddenly said, and I realised only then that he was crying. "Please tell me this is all a big nightmare?" I had to keep myself from crying now; how I wished that that was true. He seemed so small now, even smaller than I usually held him to be.

"Hugo…" I couldn't go on, I couldn't tell him that it wasn't just a bad dream he had, but when he looked up at me, I knew he would be able to read that off my face. So we sat there, mother and son, crying about our losses. I didn't know how long it was before the door opened and Rose came running in, joining in with our crying, Ron hesitantly following behind.

Two days later, we still couldn't quite comprehend what was happening. It was a couple of days before the new school year, and I hoped that Rose wouldn't drown herself in the library. Of course, I had done that, but Ron and Harry always made sure that I would surface from there once in a while. That's what Al had done in Rose's case. I also hoped that Hugo might be able to cheer her up; though not just Rose, Lily, to whom Hugo was about as close as Rose had been to Al, as well. Merlin knew she could use a laugh now.

It was also the day of Al's funeral. Everybody in the house was down and everything we usually did, we did in silence now. Al's death had been all over the Daily Prophet (they had taken the opportunity to dedicate an entire issue to everything that had to do with Harry; like he wanted that now, or ever, actually) and reporters were stalking us day and night. We had spent the day before almost entirely at the Potters', helping to prepare the funeral. The amount of mail from people who wanted to express their support and respect was huge.

I had stuffed my handbag with tissues, fearing that I would never have enough, especially since everyone would need them. All the commotion around these events formed a sharp contrast to small group of people that was invited to the funeral. Only us, the family, and some family friends and students from Hogwarts – Al's friends and their parents, but also one of James' friends. Harry hadn't even invited his colleagues, since they hadn't known Al at all.

The ceremony itself was small but very emotional; everyone had gotten the opportunity to say something if they would want, and many had taken it as a last chance to speak to the fourteen year old who would never fully grow up now. Every single person who spoke, carefully avoided talking about Ginny, whose forced and most likely very involuntary absence was weighing heavy on us. I had been right about the tissues: they were quite popular.

Ultimately, everyone, one by one, walked up towards the coffin, to bid Al a final goodbye. After we had all been there, Harry stood up, along with James and Lily, and while some guests were already filing out, they stood in front of the coffin for a long time. Two children who seemed younger now than they had seemed to me in ages, and their father. A broken family, and one I knew very well. It broke my heart to see them like this, but I knew that there was nothing I could do for them at this moment.

Rose didn't want to go back to Hogwarts this year. She told me so September 1st, two hours before the Hogwarts Express would leave. With combined efforts of Ron, Hugo and me, we managed to convince her to go nonetheless, our most important argument being that Al would not have wanted this for her; he would not have wanted her to give up her own life because for some reason, he had been forced to give up his. First, she became very angry when we told her this, then she broke down in tears again, but finally, she agreed that it was probably true.

When we arrived at the Platform, I could feel Ron tense next to me. I followed his gaze and frowned slightly. Why was Harry talking to, of all people, Draco Malfoy? He had never really acknowledged us here before. As we stopped, next to Harry, both men looked up. Malfoy nodded politely and then turned his attention back to Harry, shook his hand and greeted him. Then, he was gone.

"Harry? What did he want?" I asked uncertainly.

"He came to offer his condolences," Harry answered. "He knew what had happened, of course, and he apologised for not making it to the burial. He supposed that not everybody would appreciate that very much."

"The burial?" Ron asked sharply. "You invited _him_ to the burial?"

"Not necessarily him," Harry said, "but Scorpius was a good friend of – of Al's." His voice was strained again and I looked pointedly at Ron so he wouldn't question it any further. Ron, however, didn't notice.

"He was? They were friends?" He started looking around, for Rose most likely, to ask her about her allegiances with Draco Malfoy's son.

"Yes, they were," Harry said wearily. At that moment, Lily came running back to her father. They spoke a few words, and then Lily hugged him so tightly I thought she wasn't going to let him go again. James, too, came towards us, though in a much slower pace. The eyes of many people on the platform followed him and kept staring our way.

James, too, talked to his father about something for some time, and then he gently disentangled Lily from him and took her towards the train, both waving. I couldn't remember James ever acting like this when he'd be going to Hogwarts, so I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, it had to be hard for them too; leaving their father behind to be on his own for the next few months. I had to admit that I hadn't even thought about that until that moment.

When the train had left, we invited Harry to come over for a bit, but he declined, saying that he'd better get used to being all alone as soon as possible. I didn't like the sound of that at all, but he was gone before we could stop him.

I had to go to work again the day after that, not really feeling like it. My colleagues, after all, had only recently convicted one of my best friends. As I entered my office, it was quiet. Of course, I didn't have to share it with anyone else, but I hadn't seen anyone in the hallway either.

During the lunch period, there were some other people. They nodded at me as I sat down, and I noticed that the conversation had completely stopped. Great.

"How is your family doing?" Doug asked cautiously.

"Not very well," I answered curtly. "And we still don't believe that she did it."

"Well," Doug said, seeming a little taken aback, "that's nothing we can do something about now, right?"

"You can't exactly prove that she didn't do it, can you?" one of my other colleagues, Wendy Split, said. "It's not as if you can go back in time and see it for yourself."

Her comment made me think. Of course it was possible to go back in time. Obviously, Wendy wasn't aware of this. Hadn't Ginny said that I could get her out? I suddenly gasped, stood up from the table and ran for it. Of course. That was what I had to do. I could find a way to travel back in time and save Ginny and Al. It was against the law, I was _very_ aware of that. If I'd get caught, I would, most likely, be shipped off to Azkaban as well. But I had to do this, for the Potter's, and for the entire family.

I made my way to the Department of Mysteries, where I knew that all the devices lay with which one could travel through time. I knew I wasn't supposed to be there, but nobody was stopping me, so I walked on. It seemed like everyone was taking a lunch break at that exact moment.

As I walked through the Ministry, I tried to come up with some plans. Where exactly should I go to stop this from happening? Of course, the morning, right before they would go to Diagon Alley. I briefly pondered what would have happened if someone else had accompanied them, either from the beginning or only after they had their ice cream.

I didn't really see the point in warning them earlier; they might just forget about the whole thing. Then, another thought hit me. What if I could just stop Ginny from going school shopping that day? It would also help me a lot if I knew who was responsible for this, and what their motive was. Whether it was Al or Ginny they wanted to get rid off.

Having arrived in the Department of Mysteries, I was confronted with a familiar sight. All those doors… I prayed that it wouldn't take me too long before I would find the right room.

It seemed that I was lucky today, though; the fifth room I entered, was some sort of lab. A time-turner lab. Don't ask me, I don't work here. Apart from all the microscopes and vials, there was also a glass cupboard. I peered inside, and saw that there were _at least_ five different kinds of time-turners. Now how to choose? I couldn't exactly take all of them.

Just when I had reached my decision and was carefully putting away the most advanced-looking time-turner in the pocket of my cloak (it surprised me that apparently, no alarm went off when I vanished the glass), the door opened again and two men came in. Of course, that was also the only door. There was no way I could slip away unseen now.

"I thought they said that the coffee would be here already?" one of them commented, sounding slightly annoyed. He crossed the room, almost to where I was hiding underneath a table. "But I don't see it anywhere."

"I'll go and get you some coffee, then, sir," the other voice replied. I figured that the first man had to be the boss. That, or the other man was just very intimidated by him. Either way, by then, there was only one other person in the room. Deciding that it was now or never, I grabbed my wand and shot a quick Stunning Spell at the feet that were standing so close to where I was.

Before I even knew if it had worked, I had already crawled out from under the table and was out of the room. By now, many people had arrived back from their lunch breaks. I hastily ran outside, ignoring Doug's calls (what he was doing down there, I will never know).

It might be safer to use the time-turner outside; if they had, by now, found out that a time-turner was missing, it would be rather stupid to use it in the Ministry itself. Thus, I walked through London for a bit, and finally settled for (how ironic) an alley close to Diagon Alley. This time-turner had to be a prototype, because I had never seen it before (not even in pictures), nor did I have any idea whether or not it worked like a normal time-turner would. So I just turned it a couple of times to see what would happen.


	4. The first attempt

I found myself still in the same alley, but it was dark now. If it was only the night before now, I'd probably get sore fingers from trying to turn it back 12 days, which was about 288 hours and probably the same amount of turns. Wonderful.

As I sat in concentration, trying to figure out the best strategy, I was subconsciously twisting the time-turner again. When I looked up, I saw the most horrifying sight. Aurors, trying to arrest Ginny (who was fighting them with all her might), and Healers, carefully lifting Al (who, just like Harry had said, looked awful and was almost unrecognisable) onto a stretcher, had filled the alley.

Suddenly, something clicked. Maybe, if I just concentrated enough, I would be able to go to back for an hour, or maybe a couple of hours, more. It was a miracle that I hadn't been seen by the Aurors or Healers. That wouldn't have made the situation easier.

I fumbled a little with the time-turner, trying to concentrate on where (or when) I wanted to go. I slowly opened my eyes and found the alley deserted. Hastily, I hurried out of there, taking a few turns and found myself in Knockturn Alley. Not quite what I had hoped for, but I knew Diagon Alley couldn't be far now.

Carefully hiding myself around a corner, I snuck a glance at the ice cream parlour. They weren't there yet. Obviously, I hadn't been concentrated enough. Instead, I apparated to the Potters' house, hoping that I would catch Ginny and Al there. Then I started wondering what I could possibly tell them. Could I just flat out say that Al was going to die and Ginny would be seen as the murderer? They were never going to believe that. I could hardly say that they'd better stay at home because it was going to rain, or something lame like that. Nor could I say that I had a bad feeling about today, as if something was about to happen. They'd probably laugh and ask when I had turned into Trelawney. I wasn't known for that sort of stuff. This was proving to be harder than I had originally thought it would be.

I took a few deep breaths and walked inside. Ginny and Al looked about ready to go when I came bursting in.

"Hermione? What brings you here on this beautiful morning?" Ginny asked, sounding surprised. I know I would be surprised in a situation like this.

"I – er," _Come on_, I thought to myself, _you can come up with something!_ "Yesterday at work, I heard a rumour about Diagon Alley not being completely – safe. Something's supposed to happen there today. I don't know what, but it's not good. Maybe you shouldn't go today?"

"But aunt Hermione, didn't uncle Ron and Rose and Hugo go there as well?" Ah, Al, always trying to outsmart me. Well, sometimes.

"Er – yes, they are. But there's three of them and two of you, so… maybe you should bring someone else along?"

"I'm sure Hugo won't make that much of a difference, Hermione," Ginny said doubtfully. "Not to question his abilities," she added quickly, "but if something bad's going to happen, what can a twelve-year-old do? Hermione, don't worry, it'll all be alright. We'll see you tomorrow." With that, Ginny shooed Al into the fireplace and stepped in after him.

_That didn't go well_, I thought, as I disapparated again. But there had to be other options. And they couldn't all be as stringent as breaking into the Ministry and sending off an alarm to keep everyone inside, right?

I couldn't very well do something at my own house. Although I knew, of course, about time-travelling, I still couldn't reveal myself to, well, myself. Then, another idea struck me. I carelessly flipped back the time-turner a couple of times, to go back a few hours.

"Ron! Wait a second!"

Ron looked around, surprised. "Hermione? I thought you were going to stay home today! And we just left, is something wrong?"

"No, well – I just remembered that Ginny said something about going to Diagon Alley today as well and – "

"We knew that, mum," Hugo interrupted me. "We were there, remember? And then aunt Ginny said that we should meet her for lunch."

"Oh – right." I had completely forgotten about that. How did I forget? Must've been the past week – it had been one of the most hectic and surreal weeks of my life. "Perhaps it'd be nice to stay together for the rest of the time? Shopping might be done sooner, then." I knew how much Hugo (and Ron, for that matter) hated shopping, so this should work.

Ron just looked at me, pensively. "That's a pretty good idea, Hermione. We might just do that. But now that you're here, care to come with us after all?"

I smiled at them. "No, I think I'll go home now. Have fun!"

After they had all disappeared in one of the shops, I twisted my time-turner again, wishing to go back to the future. As I opened my eyes, Diagon Alley was deserted, and I shivered. Something felt wrong. Something was wrong; the street was completely blown apart and I didn't see anyone at all.

Not quite knowing why and whereto, I started running. When I came to a halt, I was standing outside the Leaky Cauldron. Every window was shattered and nobody was in there.

"Where did everybody go?" I whispered to myself. "What happened? _What did I do_?"


	5. The culprit

Whatever I did, the future certainly hadn't improved from it.

"Well, well, if it isn't Hermione Granger. Shouldn't you be at home, mourning for your family?" At the sound of a sneering voice behind me, I whipped around to face a man I had never seen before.

"Mourning?" I asked sceptically, but afraid. "And who might you be?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," the man said, smirking evilly. "But answer my question first, would you? Shouldn't you be mourning?"

I was starting to lose my patience; of course, if this man found out that I had travelled through time and therefore had no idea what had happened or why I should be mourning, that wouldn't be good. But he was getting on my nerves.

"No very talkative, are you now?" the man muttered. He reached for his wand, but I beat him to it. After effectively disarming him, I grabbed both his wrists (to prevent him from disappearing into nothingness) and held my wand at his throat.

"Who. Are. You?" I asked through gritted teeth. "And don't even try to play games. I am not in the mood for those."

The man just grinned, as if enjoying my impatience. "The name's Yaxley. Julius Yaxley." As my eyes widened, so did his grin. Yaxley? "My father was a Death Eater. He was killed after his master was vanquished."

"And he had himself to blame for it," I hissed at him. "What are you doing here, then?"

At that, he chuckled, almost as if I wasn't threatening him. "I didn't realise that walking around Diagon Alley was a crime nowadays, Ms Granger." I knew his way of addressing me was supposed to annoy me, was supposed to get my mind off the stuff I wanted to know.

"You're not here without a reason, Yaxley," I told him, trying to sound calm. "I know you aren't. So you'd better answer me: what are you doing here? Or do you want me to perform some nasty curses on you?"

His grin became, if possible, even wider. This man was crazy. Completely crazy. "A nasty curse, eh, Ms Granger? I believe that might be the reason I'm here as well. What a coincidence! You're just a little too late to witness it, but that's your loss, of course."

"What did you do?" I asked in a low, and hopefully threatening voice. This man was seriously getting on my nerves.

"Oh," Julius Yaxley replied airily, "there's really no harm in telling you, is there? It's not as if there are a whole lot of people here to arrest me. I can handle you." He grinned some more. "I blew the street apart with a force that Wormtail would be jealous of. More damage, more victims. But of course, you'd know all about that, Ms Granger."

I swallowed. I had to stay in control of the situation. I couldn't let my emotions get the best of me now. Obviously, there had been a change in the plans. Before, Diagon Alley hadn't been blown apart. Before, Ginny was found in a predicament that caused her to be sentenced for a lifelong stay in Azkaban. Before… Ginny and Al had been alone after the ice-cream.

"Why?" was all I could ask at that moment. I sounded weaker than I wanted to, and Yaxley knew it. He was enjoying every moment of this.

"Why, Ms Granger? I thought I just told you. My father was killed after his master was gone. Revenge, Ms Granger, revenge. I thought you'd be able to think of that. How disappointing. Harry Potter destroyed my life by destroying my father's master and therefore, my father. I think I did a good job on destroying Harry Potter's life now." He cackled, not unlike I had heard Voldemort do, ages ago. Involuntarily, I shivered.

Yaxley had been the one to make Ginny kill Al, he must have been. And when the two of them weren't alone… he had settled for simply killing even more people. All for revenge. I shivered again.

"You're not surprised, are you, Ms Granger?" his mocking voice said, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Oh, you are? Did you honestly expect that no one would ever try to get even with Harry Potter for what he did? An eye for an eye, don't you think? Isn't that fair?"

That was it. I had had enough. I performed a silent hex which left him unconscious and I broke his wand in two pieces (once I'd change the past he'd have it back anyway, but it gave me some satisfaction, at least). I hadn't thought it possible, but what had happened now was even worse than what had happened before. I had to stop this as well. He had pretty much insinuated that my own family had been affected too; who had died? Ron, Rose, Hugo? All three of them? I shuddered. I had to go back again.

I ended up where I had ended up earlier: near the ice cream parlour, before it even opened its doors. I had considered going back just far enough to prevent Yaxley from attacking everyone, but if I'd be too late, chances were that I'd get blown up as well, and everything would've been in vain. Besides, how odd would it be if they'd find me dead, but at the same time, I was at home, suspecting nothing?

Before going here, I had had to make sure that the earlier time-travelling version of me didn't press Ron and the kids into joining Ginny and Al after the ice cream. It was hard to stop that from happening, but if my calculations were right, they wouldn't do that now.

I watched them eat their ice creams in peace; if only they knew the doom that was looming (almost literally) around the corner… not me, of course, but Yaxley. After what felt like hours, they got up and left, in different directions. I kept my eye on my best friend and my nephew, when suddenly, Ginny twitched a little. I wasn't even sure if I'd seen it correctly, but something had definitely happened. I looked around wildly, in search for the culprit, but I didn't see him.

Meanwhile, Ginny had walked off in the direction of the alley where I knew a disaster would happen. Obviously not knowing what to do now, Al followed her like the good son he was. I hastily followed them and found Ginny already with her wand out, pointing it at her son, an odd gleam in her eyes.

"Ginny!" I shouted loudly, and she turned around swiftly.

The odd gleam was extremely visible now; it was something I had never seen in her eyes before. She was out for blood; more likely, Al's, and maybe mine now.

"Ginny," I repeated at a lower volume. "What are you doing?" Instead of answering me, Ginny pointed her wand at me and mouthed a hex. Not seeing that coming, I had to react quickly in order to evade it.

I shot a spell her way, not really wanting to hurt her. Although I didn't have much of a choice, since she didn't seem to have a problem with hurting me now. While Ginny dodged my spell, I sent Al a frantic look, hoping that he'd run away. Fortunately, he had already come up with that idea himself.

As Ginny sent another hex my way, I started wondering when this curse Yaxley put on her (at least, I assumed that's what happened when she had suddenly twitched) would wear off. Hopefully it would be soon, because I didn't really feel like duelling her the entire afternoon.

Some ten minutes later, it became clear to me that the curse wasn't just going to wear off. Most likely, she had to kill or hurt someone first, and then she would return to normal, without even knowing what she had done. Until then, she could keep shooting as much hexes and curses at me as she wanted.


	6. The happy ending?

When a particularly well-aimed stunning spell came whirling my way, it took a bigger effort than before to dodge it. During my absence of mind, Ginny managed to escape, and before I could reach her again, I heard a scream. _Al_.

I sprinted towards the sound, but it was too late already. Ginny had regained control over her brain, but for Al, things weren't looking as good. I took a couple of steps back while Ginny started panicking; as much as I wanted to comfort her, I knew I couldn't stay with her. There was only one thing I could do, and that was to eliminate Yaxley before he could do something.

Apparently, there was a huge difference between knowing that Yaxley had to be around somewhere and finding him. It was as if he had a time-turner as well and every time I was close, he'd twist the tiny thing and get away. It was frustrating beyond belief.

Oh well. During that chase, I did get the chance to think over some tactics. I could openly fight him, but then he might curse me as well, or instead of Ginny. I wasn't cowardly or something, it just wouldn't be very convenient. Besides, I had just duelled Ginny for I don't know how long, so I wasn't very keen on the idea of duelling anyone else right now.

In the end, when I finally found him, I just hexed him from a distance, stunning him in mid-curse. As soon as I would arrive at work tomorrow, I'd try my best to get Yaxley a lifelong stay in Azkaban. After returning the time-turner, of course.

Exhausted, I slid down against a wall. It had been an eventful day. The only thing I now had to do was returning to my own time and see if I had really made a difference.

I made my way towards the alley where things had happened originally, and started spinning the time-turner, concentrating on where (or rather, when) I wanted to go. As I opened my eyes, there was nobody in the alley. I was all alone. I almost started panicking (after all, I couldn't really start running around here before the other me in this time had gone to the past), when I heard someone coming.

Hiding in the shadows, I looked on as I turned the time-turner a couple of times, not having figured out yet how the thing worked. As soon as I had disappeared, I emerged from my hiding place and quickly disapparated back to the Ministry where, unfortunately, lunch break was really over now.

What could I do with the time-turner? Obviously I had to return it, but did I really have to put it back where it had been? Slowly, I walked towards the Department of Mysteries, when a familiar looking person quickly overtook me. It was one of the men who had entered the room with time-turners while I was there too.

He looked like he was in a hurry, holding out a cup of coffee, as if it was the most important thing in the world. Of course! He had gone to fetch his boss some coffee! I sped up and when I was close enough, I managed to quickly deposit the time-turner in one of the pockets of his robes.

Ready to return to my own office (although I had no idea what to expect there), I turned around and walked away. "Excuse me, Miss, can I help you with anything?"

I swivelled back around and found the coffee man watching me with a confused look on his face. It seemed that I hadn't been very smooth, then. "No, why are you asking?"

Now he looked even more confused. "I thought – never mind then." Slightly redder than before, he continued on his way, and I did too. Only, I decided that I had worked hard enough already. I'd just owl Doug to say I didn't feel too well anymore.

"Hermione? Why are you at home?"

I groaned as I heard Ron's voice somewhere above me. Apparently, I had fallen asleep on the couch and had been sleeping for at least a couple of hours. It had been proven once again that saving your friends can be very tiring.

"I wasn't feeling very well," I told Ron, like I had told Doug, and sat up.

He just nodded, sat down next to me and handed me a letter. Curiously, I took it. It was from Rose. Nothing but a short, jubilant letter about how she had made the Quidditch team, and how the other people at the try-out had been muttering about Fred showing favouritism towards her, especially since James and (I had to stop myself from grinning very widely at this) Al were on the team as well. I had no idea how the trip to Diagon Alley had ended, but at least it was better than the first time it had happened.

After a couple of minutes more, Ron got up again, stretched, and went to the kitchen. "Oh," he called, poking his head around the door, "before I forget, Harry and Ginny are coming over for dinner tonight. Er – could you give me hand in the kitchen?" Rolling my eyes, I got up, but I was grinning nonetheless.

It seemed that everything was finally alright now. _Thank Merlin_.


	7. The real end

It was now nearing the end of September, and I was glad to say that nothing strange had happened. Al was still safe at school (as safe as he could with James constantly using him for his experiments) and Ginny was everywhere but Azkaban.

Yaxley, however, _was_ in Azkaban now. I had made it my goal to get him locked up, and fortunately (in some weird, twisted way) the Aurors who had gone to investigate the case, had found some dark items in his house. Everyone had been sceptic when I first accused him of wanting to follow in Voldemort's footsteps (I didn't know whether or not that was true, but he sure had seemed like a potential threat to me), saying that the past should be forgotten, but after that investigation, they believed me. It was just hard to explain how I had known that.

He hadn't denied that the dark items in his house were really his, or that he was experimenting with them to bring down Harry and everyone around him. That was enough evidence to give him a lifelong sentence to Azkaban.

Not too long after condemning Yaxley, I started looking for a new job; within the Ministry and the same Department, but something different. After witnessing a court case from the family's side, I could hardly stand sitting with the other judges anymore. It might sound stupid and silly, but to me, it wasn't. Besides, there were so many other things I could do; the possibilities were endless. There were so many things that needed to be fixed and I could hardly wait to start somewhere else.

So everything was perfect, right? Well… almost.

The day before I would switch jobs, there was one last case where I was needed. It was rather small and the verdict would be delivered without the defendant or the family present. This often happened in smaller and less important cases.

I had had no time to read the file beforehand, so I was quite unprepared for what would happen. As I entered the room, all my colleagues stopped talking.

"Hermione, take a seat, please," Doug said, gesturing towards the only unoccupied chair in the room. After sitting down, I glanced around curiously. "Did you read the file?" I shook my head at this; better be honest. "Maybe you should have. We weren't sure if we could let you do your say in this case, but you can stay anyway, if you want to."

"Uh – sure," I replied. What was wrong, then? What had happened now? Wendy handed me the file and I quickly skimmed through it. This was unbelievable. After everything I had done – now this?

Obviously, there had been some sort of informal party for the Daily Prophet's employees. Ginny, as a writer for the paper, was there as well, and apparently, according to this file, she got smashed. _Very_ smashed. That wasn't the end of it, unfortunately. Nobody had any idea where she got it, but the general consensus was that it had to be stolen – a flying carpet. Yes, you heard me right. In her drunk state, Ginny managed to _somehow_ get her hands on a flying carpet. And naturally, being the born flyer she is, she went for a ride on it.

So not only was she drunk in public, she also stole someone else's property (even if it was an illegal item), and she rode a flying carpet, which is still forbidden here. While she was still under the influence of alcohol. Unbelievable, but true.

While I read the file, my colleagues had come to a verdict: Ginny got the chance to think everything she did over – in Azkaban. Fortunately for her, she only had to go there for two weeks, instead of the rest of her life. Of course, I couldn't very well comfort her with that, but to me, it was a relief, although it was somewhat bittersweet as well. After all my efforts, Ginny had still managed to land herself in Azkaban this time around.

* * *

**A/N**: So, the end! What did you think of it?  
I'll just explain my need to end this the way I ended it a little: this fic was originally written for a challenge at the HPFF-forums, and the point was, someone (Ginny) did something (she killed Albus and was sent to Azkaban). Someone else (Hermione) had to go back in time to prevent this from happening. The twist was, even though this person succeeded, the outcome didn't change, and although Ginny didn't kill Albus now, she had to go to Azkaban for some reason. I hope that cleared things up a little, if not, let me know :)


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